Always believed that ECB would get us some cricket: Anya Shrubsole

England seamer Anya Shrubsole has said that despite the cancellation of India-South Africa tri-series, the England squad believed that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) would work hard to get some cricket for the women.



“What we always believed as a squad was that the ECB would work unbelievably hard to get us some cricket, and that's what's happened,” Shrubsole told Sky Sports.



On the uncertainty that prevailed over the return of women’s cricket in England while the men’s team was playing Test series against West Indies and Pakistan, the 26-year-old said that it was bound to happen due to the difficulties and constraints caused by the pandemic.



"Men's Test cricket was always going to be a priority for this summer,” she said.



“These are obviously very different and very difficult times, and sometimes things are going to look a bit different and you've got to get your priorities straight. It would have been very easy for us not to play at all, especially after India and South Africa pulled out."



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The England women’s last international fixture was the T20 World Cup semi-final against India which got washed out due to rain. With no reserve day available, India progressed to the finals as a result of being unbeaten in the league stage.



The next big international was the Women's World Cup in New Zealand, originally scheduled for 2021 and now postponed by a year. This means that in 2022, there are potentially two World Cups, with South Africa to host the T20 World Cup. Apart from those, women's cricket will also feature in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham that year. Shrubsole was amazed by the thought of winning the world tournaments that year.



"We've got an amazing year or so coming up, building into a huge 2022 for the Women, where we're going to have the Commonwealth Games and play Twenty20 there and a T20 World Cup, so if we can knock off those two in 2022, it would be amazing," she concluded.



England will face West Indies in a five-match T20I series starting September 21.



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